Six businesses in Vermilion Parish violate employees wearing mask order

Six Vermilion Parish businesses failed inspections in July after being warned for violating face mask covering order for employees.
According to records from the Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s office, Kaplan had three businesses while Gueydan, Maurice and Erath had each one.
Abbeville, the largest city in the parish, did not have one business fail the inspection.
Lafayette had eight businesses with violations, while New Iberia and Crowley had each five.
One parish business owner said the inspector from the fire marshal’s office walked through the business and noticed not all the employees were wearing face mask coverings. No ticket was issued to the businesses.
Today, those employees now are wearing face masks.
Louisiana businesses affirmed in May filings with the State Fire Marshal’s Office that they would comply with the Open Safely mandates issued by Gov. John Bel Edwards as a condition of reopening.
Louisiana remains in Phase 2 of reopening, as Edwards has extended the period with more restrictions, including closing bars to on-site service and a face mask mandate.
The mandate requires bars, restaurants, casinos, gas stations, truck stops and other types of businesses to comply with requirements help limit the spread of COVID-19, including limiting capacity in the business; accommodating social distancing by spacing tables and other methods; and requiring face coverings. Since July 13, both employees and customers have been required to wear masks.
Top Shelf in Alexandria has been found to have violated the state’s Open Safely mandate on two separate visits, according to data from the Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s Office.
Some state business owners cited in inspections called the process unfair, penalizing them for actions out of their control. The Sand Dollar Tiki Bar was cited for a crowd gathered at an outside pavilion on the last weekend of July, the business’ third inspection that found a violation.
Owner Butch Gaspard said his business, which had its operating permit suspended, shouldn’t be hurt by what happened outside at the pavilion.
“The fire marshal was here on Saturday at 4:45 p.m.,” Gaspard told the Houma Courier. “For 20 minutes they sat in their car and observed and began to walk around and met with me and said all was good and that we were in compliance. We have multiple witnesses to what he said.”
The state has logged more than 5,000 inspections since the governor issued his mandate. In July, 698 Louisiana business failed inspections for failing to comply with one or more of the requirements.
Most businesses that are found to not be in compliance receive two warnings before action is taken against them, State Fire Marshal Butch Browning said at a press conference last week. The two-warning system is not a hard and fast rule though.
The inspections are conducted by the state fire marshal’s office, Louisiana Department of Health, The Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control and select local fire prevention bureaus.
(The Advertiser Newspaper contributed to this story)